Parting flange or divider for drilling drums



.Aug. 27, 1940. w.'c.' SOLE PAR'I'ING FLANGE 0R- DIVIDER FOR DRILLING DRUMS Filed March 31, 1938 ni /inf Patented Aug. 27, 1940 PATENT OFFICE -PARTING FLANGE OR DIVIDER FOR *DRILLING DRUMS I William Gary Sole, Bristow, Okla. I v I Application March 31, 1938, 'Serial No. 199,242

6 Claims.. -(ci. 242-117) This invention relates to dividers which are mounted on the drumsof well drilling machines for the purpose of separating the reserveportion of the cable from that portion thereof which is,

for a time at any rate, in constant use. From time to time as the drill goes deeper into the well, it is'necessary to pull the tools from the bottom and to takeoff one turn of cablefrom the reserve end of the drum, cross it over the divider and shift this turn of the cable to the active portion of the To this end, dividers are usually formed in two sections held tothe shaft or drum by bolts and in taking oiT a turn of the reserve cable from the reserve portion'of the drum, it is necessary to cross the cable over one of said bolts that holds the divider to the shaft of the drum. This is likely to make short bends or crooks in the cable which will weakenthe cable and make it break very readily, leaving the tools in the bottomof the well. Furthermore, inco n structions of this character, the bolts that hold the divider to the shaft or drum are so placed that the weight of the cable and of a heavy string of drillingtools is very likely" to break the bolts 5 which hold the divider to'the shaft. Further more, inasmuch as] the ends "of thebolts stick out through the divider, these bolt ends will often catch in a mans clothing" and cause injury to the operator. I}

The general object of the present invention is to avoid the difficulties heretofore mentioned and particularly to provide a divider in which the cable does not have to be passed o'vr a ny bolts in order to cross it from one side of the divider to the other but in which thedivider is so formed that the cable is guided gently from'the reserve portion of the drum onto the periphery of the divider and then as gently guidedo nto the active portion of the drum without'passing over any belts or otherportions of the divider which would catch, bend or kink the cable. I I

Another object is to provide a divider on the order of a pulley with the cable going en'tirely around the divider and assisting in pressing the divider tight onto the shaft or drum. I

A further object is to provide a divider of this character which will leave the cable straight and without kinks or bends. I

Other objects will appear in the course of the 5 following description. I i 1 My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation of anoil well drum and derrick showing my separating flange 5 applied thereto. r

I Fig. zisan edgeelevation of the flange or separatorpartly broken away.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the separator partly broken away. I

Fig; 4 is a'fragmentary section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring to .the drawing, l0 designates the drum of a drilling machine, this drum having a large portion H and a smaller diametered portionl2. The cable I3 which is used in' drilling is taken from the small portion of the drum and from that end which is remote from.. thelar'ge diametered portion of the drum.

Separating the large diametered portion of the drum from the small diametered'is the divider such as heretofore described. This divider, as shown in Fig. 3, is in the form of a pulley having a hub portion l4 whichmay embrace the drum itself or be mounted upon the shaft of the drum and having the lateral flanges l5 and 16, which define between-them the'circumfe'rential groove H. The flanges l5 and 16 extend almost contin' uously around the pulley-like divider but at one point each of these flanges is formed with a substantially radial and relatively Wide slot 18. The slot in one side wall 15, for instance, is exactly opposite the'slot in the other side wall It and extending diagonally across thisopen portion of the divider and diagonally with relation to the sidewalls l5 and Hi, there is a diagonal'wall l9 which merges at one end into the wall l5 and at its other end intothewall It, so as to form a diagonal passage leading fromth'e'fside of the divider into the groove I! and from'this groove out tothe opposite side face of the divider. Guide grooves 20 extendfrom each oneof these openings IS in a direction circumferentially and toward the hub of the wheel, these guide grooves gradually getting shallower as theyextend away from the opening I8! Each of these guide grooves is substantially tangentialto the central opening of the hub portion l4.

Apertures 2 may extend through the hub or solidportion of the divider for the sake of makingIthe divider relatively-light. These apertures may have any desired form-but, as shown; are.

radial to the center of the divider. I

The divider is preferably formed in twosec-' tions, the sections being cut on the line 22 in Fig. 3.- 'The sections' areformed with confront-, ing recesses 23 which, when the sections are t0? g'ether, form transversely, extending slots through the hub portion of the dividerrand extendingfrom onesection into-the other area pair of tightening boltsill. These bolts extend across nuts.

the openings 23 and have screw threads at their opposite ends of opposite hand. These screw threads engage with nuts 25 having screw threads of opposite hand, these nuts being disposed within bores 26. These nuts may be held from rotation in any suitable manner and, as illustrated in Fig. 2, these nuts consist of transversely extending rods extending through from one face of the divider to the other, these rods being many-sided in cross-section and having screw threaded bores which in effect constitute It will be obvious that the bolts may be rotated to disconnect the sections or rotated in the opposite direction to draw the sections toward each other and clamp the sections'tight upon a shaft or drum.

It will be seen that the bolts 24 are entirely enclosed within the divider and do not project in any way where they can either actto kink or bend a cable or where they become dangerous to an operator. It will be also seen that the cable 13 will go entirely around this pulley-like divider and that it will act to press the two sections of the divider tight against the shaft or drum. In crossing in this manner, the cable goes over the bolts and takes all strain off the bolts and at the same time the cable is kept straight and without any kinks or bends in its Inasmuch as the cable supports a heavy string of drilling tools, it is important that the cable shall not touch the bolts or not act to break the bolts that hold the divider to the shaft.

While I have illustrated a particular embodiment of my invention which I believe to be particularly effective, I do not Wish to be limited to this as it is obvious that many changes might be made without departing fromthe spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. 'A cable divider for drums or shafts, com- J prising a centrally apertured disk-like element having means for clamping it on a drum or shaft, the element being formed toprovide a peripheral groove defined by two lateral walls spaced to receive only a single turn of cable, the lateral walls of the groove being provided with axially spaced slots, a guiding wall disposed obliquely of and between the lateral walls and joining the remote edges of the said slots.

.2. A cable divider for drums or shafts, comprising a centrally apertured disk-like element having means for clamping it on a drum or shaft, the element being formed to provide a peripheral groove extending entirely thereabout, and Y defined by two lateral walls spaced to receive only a single turn of cable, the walls of the groove being provided with axially spaced slots and there being a guiding wall disposed between the said slots in the lateral walls of the groove, the guiding wall extending diagonally across the groove and at one end merging into one lateral wall at one end of a slot and at its other side merging into the other lateral wall at the side of its slot remote from the said side of the other slot, the hub portion of the disk-like element having shallow grooves upon the side faces each extending from a slot, the grooves extendingtangentially to the aperture in the center of the divider and growing gradually shallower outward from the slot, the grooves extending in opposite directions from and in the plane of the diagonal wall.

3. A divider of the character described, having the general form of a pulley provided with a medial encircling groove and two lateral walls bordering the groove, said groove being formed to take a single turn only of a cable, the walls having radial slots extending to the bottom of the groove, the slots being axially spaced from each other, and means extending diagonally across the groove and located at said slots whereby to guide a cable gently into one of said slots and into the groove and guide an opposite portion of the cable out of said groove and through the corresponding slot in an opposite direction to that portion of the cable entering the groove.

4. A cable divider for well drilling drums or shafts having the form of a pulley provided with a hub portion, a peripheral groove and two lateral walls defining said groove, said groove being formed to take only a single turn of cable, said lateral walls at one point being radially slotted to the bottom of the groove, the slots having a width equal to the width of the groove and being axially oppositely disposed, a diagonally extending guiding element projecting radially outward from the periphery of the groove and extending obliquely across the groove between remote sides of said slots to guide a cable into the groove and out of the groove after the cable has made a single complete turn around the divider in the peripheral groove thereof, the divider being formed in two sections, and means whereby the sections may be drawn towards each other for clamping upon a shaft or drum or expanded with relation to each other, said clamping means being disposed entirely within the hub portion of the divider.

5. A cable divider for well drilling drums or shafts having the form of a pulley provided with a hub portion, a peripheral groove and two lateral walls defining said groove, said groove being formed to take only a single turn of cable, said lateral walls at one point being radially slotted to the bottom of the groove, the slots having a width equal to the width of the groove and being axially oppositely disposed, a guiding element projecting radially outward from the periphery of the groove and extending obliquely across the groove between remote sides of said slots to guide a cable into the groove and out of the groove after the cable has made a single complete turn around the divider in the peripheral groove thereof, the divider being formed in two sections, means whereby the sections may be drawn towards each other for clamping upon a shaft or drum or expanded with relation .to each other, said clamping means comprising a pair of screws disposed one on each side of the central opening of the divider, each screw having screw threaded portions at its ends of opposite hand, and nuts disposed in the hub of the divider with which said 6. A cable divider for well drilling drums or shafts having the form of a pulley provided with a hub portion, a peripheral groove and two lateral walls defining said groove, said groove being formed to take only a single turn of cable, said lateral walls at one point being radially slotted to the bottom of the groove, the slots having a width equal to the width of the groove and being axially oppositely disposed, a guiding element projecting radially outward from the periphery of the groove and extending obliquely across the groove between remote sides of said slots to guide a cable into the groove and out of the groove after the cable has made a single complete turn around the divider in the peripheral groove thereof, the

divider being formed in two sections, means whereby the sections may be drawn towards each other for clamping upon a shaft or drum or expanded with relation to each other, said clamp- 5 ing means comprising a pair of screws disposed one on each side of the central opening of the divider, each screw having screw threaded portions at its ends of opposite hand, and axially extending many-sided elements passing trans- 

